Do you want to be the next Sergey Brin in Spain?
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Created in 2012 by two, young entrepreneurs, CartoDB has experienced in just four years a radical transformation that has lead the company to lead the sector of geolocalized data, set up shop in New York, employ over 90 staff members, and even make its first acquisition (Nutiteq).
“In just a few years, those people who are incapable of analyzing data or information will be lost”, says Sergio Álvarez, Co-Founder & CPO at CartoDB. He was included in MIT Technology Review ’s Innovator Under 35 Spain list in 2014, as a pioneer in data geolocalization technologies.
“Maps can change things”, says this young innovator. And, in fact, they already are. One example is CartoDB’s NGO Aid Map, a tool that enables these organizations to quickly get updated info of which development activities are happening in a particular sector or geographic area. Or the open data platform they developed for Red Electrica de España (REE) which gives access to real-time data on Spain’s energy grid to the general public and to researchers and universities.
Sergio Álvarez believes that, “You need people to admire, people that inspire you” in order to create something big. Thus, apart from affording visibility for you and your project, “becoming part of the MIT Innovators Under 35 community gives you the opportunity to meet people you [will] admire, pioneers that were there but remained undiscovered, people that will make you feel pretty small”.
Another great success story is that of Miguel Luengo, the creator of a videogame that aims to diagnose and treat malaria. It is called MalariaSpot, and is an online game in which the players analyze blood samples taken from real patients.
“20 people playing MalariaSpot can diagnose the presence of these parasites in the bloodstream with the same effectiveness as a trained technician.” — Miguel Luengo
In recognition of his important social enterprise and the role he conferred to technology in solving a worldwide problem, Miguel Luengo was selected as the Social Innovator of 2015 by MIT Technology Review. A spectacular project that combines gamification with social responsibility.
In that sense, Innovators Under 35 represents the global community of innovators, pioneers and promoters of social change that have been recognized by MIT Technology Review in the United States since 1999, and which was extended in 2009 to include six European countries. Past winners of this competition include, for example, Sergey Brin (2002), one of the founders of Google, and Daniel Ek (2012), the Swedish founder of Spotify.
With the aim of discovering the brightest minds in the world as well as inspiring the youngest scientists and social change makers to go further in their endeavors, Innovators Under 35 is back in Europe and in Spain. If you know a Spanish entrepreneur that should join this prestigious community, the nomination period will be remain open until May 18th.
Click here to participate or nominate a friend to this award.
